Status: All residential customers in the
state are allowed to choose natural gas suppliers, but almost everyone still
purchases gas from a local distribution company.

Overview: Unbundled service has been
available to all natural gas customers in West Virginia since 1986. Under Senate
Bill 117, passed in 1983, intrastate pipeline companies and local distribution
companies (LDCs) were required to be common carriers. The procedural laws were
completed in 1986 and covered all customer classes. In order to receive
unbundled service, customers must install metering equipment or pay standby
charges. Based on the most recent Energy Information Administration data, only
10 of the state's 360,759 residential customers are receiving unbundled service.
In 1996, the Public Utility Commission of West Virginia initiated a general
investigation into ways to make customer choice easier by pooling customers, and
filed proposed rules in June 1998. Currently, pooling arrangements are permitted
only for interruptible customers (generally industrial or large-volume
commercial users).

EIA State Data: In 2002, West Virginia had
360,759 residential customers who consumed 31 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of
natural gas at an average price of $8.44 per thousand cubic feet. The commercial
market was much smaller, at 25 Bcf and 34,678 consumers. The average price paid
by commercial customers for natural gas purchased from LDCs was $7.38 per
thousand cubic feet.